The Czech conductor Albert Rosen died (of lung cancer) on 23 May,
aged 73. I don't remember seeing this reported on opera-l, and an
obituary only appeared in my paper yesterday.
I remember Rosen principally as chief conductor of the RTE Radio
Symphony Orchestra (now Irish National S O), which appears each year
at the Wexford Festival. He first appeared at Wexford before my
time, in 1965, and became principal conductor of the RTEO in 1969.
Later, I saw Smetana's THE KISS (1984), LA WALLY (1985),
KOENIGSKINDER (1986), THE DEVIL AND KATE (1988), Marschner's DER
TEMPLER UND DIE JUEDIN (1989), Mascagni's IL PICCOLO MARAT (1992) and
Leonavallo's BOHEME (1994) under his baton; I've also seen him
conduct Dvorak's THE JACOBIN for Welsh National Opera, and I believe
that he has conducted JENUFA in San Francisco, SALOME in Vancouver
and RUSALKA in San Diego. He was also principal conductor of the
(Australian) ABC Orchestra.
He was a big man who looked well-suited to conducting romantic music.
It's difficult for me to judge how well he conducted the unfamiliar
works that Wexford specialises in, but I was always satisfied that he
knew what he was doing. The obituary stresses how much the Irish
orchestra improved during his reign.
I believe that he made a number of recordings, but don't have any
details.
Andrew Cooper ([log in to unmask])